A roasted lemon chicken is simple. It doesn’t take much preparation, and, it still tastes amazing. You just can’t argue with simple sometimes.

It is the perfection addition to any roast dinner, especially Christmas because Christmas is a time when you’re more interested in spending time with your family than you are with tediously preparing intricate foods.

A roast lemon chicken with a few vegetables is great for any meal but you can jazz this up by adding some honey glazed carrots and hasselback potatoes. If you are cooking this for a celebration like Christmas and require food, you could combine it with some roast pork, a turkey thigh roll, brown sugar glazed ham, a prawn caesar-like salad or a simple potato salad or potato bake.

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 1.5 – 2 hrs

Serves: 6- 8

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken 2-3 kg
• 1 lemon
• 1 tbs oil
• Rosemary, to taste
• Salt, to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Place the chicken, breast side up, in a large baking dish.
3. Cut the lemon in half, place half the lemon inside the cavity of the chicken and juice the remaining half.
4. Combine the lemon juice with the oil. Brush the lemon mixture over the chicken and season with salt and rosemary.
5. Roast the chicken for 1.5-2hrs, basting it with pan juices every 30 minutes.
6. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Tip: Your chicken will be cooked when the juices run clear after piercing the thigh with a sharp knife.